WAR DIARY NO. 9 RUESTUNGSKOMMANDO METZ OF THE REICH MINISTER FOR ARMAMENTS AND MUNITIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000100140022-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: June 1, 1942
• Content Type: REPORT

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50X1 -HUM
Ani y i Q I War Diary No, 9
Aueetuneoaaando Mete oV the Rrieh Minitorr ~ra~ante
nd Munition
period cov reds 1 June e2 - 30 6ep L2
Rcor antzation o Wu cono Or anization (uit er decree oi' ? y 12);
The rormer Dei'eneaREconomy End A't ernt Oice ie eubdividad into:
L. Tho Derence ~eonomy ofiee (WQhrwitcchai'tsar~t) off' the filth
OO- nd of tha wed Fo 'ce i
b. The afi'ice for A enta (Ruestuxigcamt) oz' the Reiehwninicter
ror Arent and Munitions,
end the Armament Inspectorutes re tnL'orut into
a, s ent Inspectorates oV the Reichminister for ArmLttaent and
Munitions and subordinate agencies
b. Defense conozy lospec oratou (Wehrwirtseho tsin~pektionen),
t~ener~l repor~ Apr the period
The Etw utun skommando Metz vas euccewu1 in i u ondeavor to increaao
the production capaeity ot Dorraiab.
Numerous new armament contracts have been even to tho armament
industry of Larrs;ine,
The completion of production processes is atilt h~rperea by
difficultieG in the procurement of raw materials, but the situation has
IAJY ro T G-rwl I
Difficulties in the delivery of subcontractor materials and raw
matelu because transportation bottlenecka continued., but the situation
has improved. Tate steel tolls of Carishttette, Rombach, and Aayingen
received contracts for cartridge and shell blanks.
The power ani electricity supply is generally Satisfactory; the
supply and production of coke anti cot1 is good, The extraction and
shippi of ore is ii the increase. Further increas es, v. provided by
the Eoech1ing prograi (monthly increase of 1,150,000 tone) depend on
the `a1iocation of Russian S'OW'S (of the 10,000 regies~ted, only 600 arrived)
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/17 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100140022-2
Thr were -n vid butt onoo a ? e mate i n u~try o
too ~) end tho crow ctorY Are
NiederJcut?. (pipe
(pIpo prvc eP1 nt)
t~tonituat1on hd improved eonernbiY~
Tic ti.~ht tr~spor
but the in~cafe in rii'QRd trunaportatioo capacity not uti ihcd
rodUCtiol~h Wader trafcport continuo6 to
bQCuItuR of
action or Watarwaya~ hack of traction power
incr. Poor co~etr
teient labor avaitabia for oonetar~tiY
back deveiopmeot. lneu
a ort kept up with dQi&nd~ ~ thc lark of
nee1ed rcpairn r 1Q~4 tr~-~
a harm'ui bee u e o early conversion to coiid .fuel.
ga~olinc was lc
ides were inwo vea., for which reason rc:Cittiag with
Mainty Preach veh
i'ac~.litateti~ Than wel'e available becauac tea stock
wench pttrt~ wa
not of French spaite paz'ts becomec mare and i@orc
piling, but the replaco~
'
dif`Licult, and with enp1'moue w~Lr and tee on vrhiclo~, the tide drawn
uatian Qf LOrraia~. wi11 became unfavorable
near when the fe-vorabic sit
i wood ?or generator gan Va3 pro vide
A nt?ady dad indapenden~ source o
ba4 which staved operations in goptex ber 19e2
by a procc~airig-plant in For
fL- ation took a turn f'or the worn e, Tho report n en
~,~ tabor situ
that the tang-range politicai program o? Germanization
it ciui tie clear
the rcnettlement oi' F.. ench-ien in France, the nocurity
or the area by
dopo>itativn by the Gt tapo and the 2D (Security service), and the
n
ch citizenehip and the military ciraf't to Lorraine during
extension of ,lei
the economic program ath the renponaibiiity
yep?tember played havoc with
of running an armament:s induntrY The report pointn out that the tabor
sf, ~~ cata~tro hr ir the politi~+~l duthoritier~
tuat~on wou~,d became p
ttlement. The announcement of the oxtensian of German
inainted on roue
and the military draft caused. consicorable unrest among the
citizonship
ideseale applicatign for resettlement to France
population, end led to w
and ref`unai to wont in all nectioi of the region. Many workers stared
away from wont or 2 days, Arid du'ing September alone, 500 peroone applied
f'
f'or rer~ettlement (almost all the ieadirig e~ip1oYeea of the Fnts chMOrne
group a,p he` repo .it intimates that the long range peace program
The
..plt.ed~ ~
2
51
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/17 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100140022-2
whieh U11vgte trio rceuttleU I pQ ion only -rg~ ~ the Ger h war
cCQLQflW.
'mien CO~BuC.QQQ @~tBa '~@@
tru tLQ prQ jecte generally were rethrded by dt ieuitiee in
Don
the pxoreme t v ' machlnue, Fuel, raw atato'ia1e, by a lack off' ceordin-
tion between agenciae and by general tran~po~'tation bottlenaokc. New
co wt'uctioi oz' @xpan~ion o1 exi ti tg manu'acturing 'aCilitiee t4Qk
lacfl at tie a ie, Noeekel and obu~ in Metz, and gc~iuette in Forbach.
p
A ma or contructian project Wa6 he 1btngon plant of the Norm Goering
W@rke in Kart for she wanu'actux'e off' an initial quantify off' 150,000
8.8 cm tiairc 'a ~t ~he118, with 150,000 to ?'ollow later The total
building volume amounted to hM 1,569,4i0- Worke'e neededz'om October
i91~2 to April 19143 .? 1,200 Additional expranior. O~ she NAying?n
rollin t@i11 by NM 200,000. The project wt u progr suing, but Stan into
g
di Ticultieu becauue Armu~ent ' xpaa io~i Franki'ogt (Nuee ut~geausbau
Frankli rr is c re aker of the pZ4o eCt, did not cooperate especially
in the 'pro urement or fuel The labor oi'fiee waa unable to aaaign
au?'ficiek{t ConetruCtion labor. 1'he prOJECt depended i'or machines, muchne
tools, transportation inata11ation~, tuel, and structural iron (269
tone) on allocations trona thy: Oermanj economy.
Considerable air~raid protection meat~ureS were taken.
The 9iemenc Ilalake (Metz) project concirted in the conversion of
a i'oxnier achool building into a rinishing plant. The Roechling Iron
and Steel Works "Karishuette" received a permit to install u 6~on
electric hrc furnace
Existin ant0 reCeivin armament 2rd
The armwueu~ factory receiving considerable attention in the report
is the Meissner explosives at Oelingerhof, near Buseadorf. Trouble
developed because of inauffic ent railroad siding and unloading facilities.
The 1eich railroad ac ni~tratian tried in vain to en orce higher ordem
(o gring) fox apeec`.ier frieght handling and the return of empty freight
care. The plant kept freight care' tied up for . times the allowed time.
3
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~truetura1 det elene ee Q Ui ra~dbed, the ~a 6 the y
etc ?, were VQuL 1 to be the rea6oae Vor tho de~a
that no real rem~dy
wg6 pQeblble be au&e at in(!u3ablo leek @ ra J road fat '
eto ? Lack qualified wQrkere nd the poor coadlti
Qfl6 f'Qr the
available wvrkere (work' wt trout 1e) ham erect i
~ ~ utillzstlon off'
exiatio plant #'aclitiad The utilization of the ,,{{
~+~#et~4n~ punt u'thQ'
depended oz the ulck ~xpaneion of inetailatiQnv Q 11d the cQwplatlan ot`
started prpjdcre , Partially coected rQLde drama
r ~e ditches between
bomb ca'aterv, lack of derricks, etc ham eyed _this exparraion tremendou~ly?
Txanspor'tation of wor'kQz' to the plant way to be
diacorttinued because
of lack of ~uel, Instead:, barracka~oxe erected on the alts as
dor'rnizor'iev ? The need t'or cooperation between U. interes?ted a Inc
was atreaced in order to sore problems ? In a /star conferece a
volution to the pr'oblema was attcin pted ? The labor prob1w was to b
47
solved by as increased aAai?aucent of t'orced 1abox
( eastern workers ),
gut accordirr to the report, this kind of labor su
PPIy daea not sacra
to be very 'o11ab1e: poor work performance 30 out
o~ 100 aari~ned
eastern workers escaped beeaude of bad rood cu lied b
AP by Oez'nian Labor
Front, No improvement in the un1oadir~ faciiitiea cemed to be occ
p ible,
for which reason a 1irnitatioa of incornirr~ freight care to 12 e ' da
P y
is suggested, The Meidaner' mumiions plant is further alentior~ed i
rt
the report with r'ecpect to a plant expansion reeiueat: the plant asks
far' a permit to erect facilitje 'or the un1oa[jn of artillery
projectile char'es in order to recover from them PNT .n d arrwianiium nitrate,
The following ar'mamertt orders are mentioned in the
report,
14 NafTer, Saar eniuend~ 20,000 airti ht cartr
~ die cased antitank 38 (Ar')
800 protective ahiei~ld ror 2 cra antiaircraft
38 (Navy)
1,596 protective chiei i for 2 cm arrticircraft
38 (Army)
The ard,ere could be filled. without add.tio1?~a1 labor and machjtte
itrstu11at1ohs,
~r,REr
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2, ":Ferbaeher ~e udu~ r o'{ n 'Q 'b produ~ on aV
-~~ , Thy p1a~1 output July way ,QQD gouda, Thy
~l vo `~d 7O et af' t o ar ored 4r cla ,
3 $ "Ncu~ Lott r ~ ` a w u b " Metz, received n
x,000 ?hc a or b howitz ,
1, "Uaxd't&bri bQhalte "AieUcaho on, a aivcd an ordc ` 'oz l2 OQQ
airtight shell caa~~ l
"en r & Co.", Mo rocaivod order ?or 3,000 packing
or tQ 32 steel, 300 aloiSha 3
6. {~Mctallind~a {tric Naunkirehon", branch Niedijut, r~ae ivod axe
order~or 600,000 atanclard containcru ror ruol, 20 liter capac1ty
7, J, M, Hubert Sochnc, Metz, roceivud an ordt;r for 300 "Wa ' cnak jm"
(Transport aleihs)
8. Car1ohu tt&! 0 ad ntiot ~, rivad an SS-typa ord ~ tox 300 tope
o#' caatra f'or shells, 3,7 cry rd
up
9.
"1onba th r Ru tt&' in Nombach r+ cciv d as order or 700 t nu
af'
c:aaa ror ahella10. "heichswerko Herrnait n Gooring Hayin en" r cowed un order 'or' 2,500
ions of Buses f'oaartillery shells,
1U., t i4aubenbrik Arc on the Mosel a", 300,000 s uure-head screws 1Din 56
L2. Teaphil Collin, Metx1 360 -sleiha
$p 4a1 Planes ( ezialbetriebe)
The follawin plants" wear appointed "special: plants" (Spezi~a1bctriebe)
by the uestungskorzarando Metz a.s rccipientci of war o ers of the Send
S$ priority type.
1, Kownlor, A,O., Iron and sheet metal constructions, Machern near Metz,
2, thrirignishhe Zucnclschnuerwerke (wicks & fuses), Ara on the Maselie.
3* " isenwurd Blechkonstruktir.tswerk (iron uric. sheet metal) Niederjeutz,
4, "Deutsche der werksw and Huettenbuu Gesefeschaft m,b,H., branch
Wet mark, in Huyl.trgen.,
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i1 r1 ~ ~br , Joi4~d A., in Mu n t
6 p, A. von X cowpou~d chinur r
7, Mafeh nay abr k to Wi~ ngo
4, Hai
juh Mueliez kpG. d ' e u n
9, Ins, Fr nckhaucar in McJ1 eatha1
2O, Eduard Pieterenkouatiukta~w
erk to 8t, AVALd
Axed Forces Plants W-etr#cba
.4..~...r.,
T'he allQwl planta were made Arn ed Farces (W) plants,
1, Kerber: Schuette in,
Forbad
2, Mctalllnduutrle Neunklrchen, branch NiederJeutz
3, Seca achlosstabrlk
+. Sprltueswcrk,aar~emuend
P1ot lns ec ~iona .mor caAac, deterta nr tloa
O'fcers of the uestun~komatdoetx uun
dertaal. the oUowl
lnapecttons to deterrnjne WAr poteAtjA . cif lndlvidual piaritc;
:. An ur~nt fspe?tjon was undertaken at "
e Neu LOtkrier Blech-
wt'enfsbrlk" erdln~ aa~enbled n~ell~ 2'or i.
l~ht ktawitzeru (deci~natlon
by firm K 7613), The inspection ascertained that capacity xited to
produce 20,000 plucee its 500 hauru without additional man
powea and
machinery
2, St lrohrwerke ~l nhofen ('ormer1y Tubcal were found to be able
to produce only soldered pipe8 up to an /nn r dlaaieter of 25 cm.
feed'or r~ew Qerman machlner
Application for near Orman mctchiner were u
y pparted by 'Group III"
Of the Inspec?tarate fort
1, Kerbe't Schuette, Forbach, 31 machLne
2, ~prengetaffwerke Mels~ner, 0e1:lrgerhanear queen
darr, 3 machlnee,
3. uettenve ~waltu Westmdrk of the telc.huirerke Her
lIayingeri, 3 machines,
4, hafTer, $aargemuendr 4 macni
nee,
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1 Materials A C t Q~ n the proeu cement o teri ~ hampered
the, prQductiQn QD eavaral exleti irni and n de it impocoibl@ fQr
3' L9A, One o pincipa1 shortages existed in ruel supply, especially
ire to'ei~n labor slowed by trai&pQtta ion dii'iculties,
new L 1ant to start 1r?1uctian,
, L r' The 1abQr 4~'lc a were u ab1c to me i~eded uubor Q
workers available Many workers w~xe drawn into a riaultura Lor the
harvest aeaean~ work a ticieacy Qt i'oreign workers low, Eepera11y~
the :Lta1lanu gave troubie, In one mine the Xta1iaue 'et'uaed to work
because o bacl food, 1'Iuniaroud oreign workers aacaped irQr plants,
M2-intenance work on waterways impeded by lack o labor, Allocation of
1. Oas for oil, policy to convert plants from Diesel, and fuel' oil is
whereby the long distance ?upp1y was subJect to many interruptions,
Substitutes and make.zhLft rocurement
250,000, Oe?iciency bad to be made up by import of current from Oermany,
before was Made subject matter of a report to Armament Inspection Xll, etc,
5,droeectric cower Qla~nt Metz, Low water level resulted in reduction
of power production in August from 1 to 1.2 million kilowatt monthly to
eapecia,liy increase ors Moselle canals 50,000 tong against rormer monthly
average 01' 20,000, But canal transport limited by "catastrophic shortage
or barge space,On an lnapection trip along the Mo?e1le, canal one idly
barge was detectad, and the Fact that itc presence bad not been reported
Diauel oil ago gasoline,
4, TransR rtatioa, Bottleneck soinewhat relieved by ctal transportation
J
for the city of )letx, where a lack of coal brought difficulties in the
from coal was faci1ita,ted by increased production of coke and coal, except
ordered to convert furnaces to gda by the end of 1942, Gas production
carried out, The Knuettingen steel mill and Are screw factory were
gas supply. But in general, the supply of Lorraine with coal for gat
2, 2mu a coal for e1ectric,t roduction, Smudge coal, in maple supply
production seemed sufficient,
in the 2r area
wdt used. to increese electricity supply.
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0pturd_ Araie
it Thy "Weetaa '1 in uhr Qeoei chart mtbt~" giYee ~ ~ ounti on
va1u~ ut cLiptured 'ranch materin a $@bt to G r y' ii ti vaite for
taxation pu~*poaoa aa- ,162,i 5e an mount which i~ oon~idered b the
GormaI nun ad t@ b~ too :Ow,
S, Order by Army Jigh Co nti i et' Opt 12 ode captured French
implements available for the reconstruction of Le mine, the naeda of
the A od Foreoe, d for air raid protection meaeuree After Qerw
industry had "combed out" a ptured maehinery for own needyi the remaini
xi
chinery xeined in unprotected storage and was, therefore, subject to
pilroraga and ruin by tha weather. Therefore, the Iuestingekonando Metz
deeded to make the maehinery avai1ubie without further inveb U ation
iota the tormer ownership (French stata or private citizon)
F1antrotootion
By order of the Armwuent Inspectorate XII, too counter-eepion a activitica
and piano protection of public utilities, mixes, and chenical, p1ants
will its the future be in the hands of the SD (Security Service) or the
O~~tapo
Air raid dame
It Attack orz Saaxbruecken during tho night of 29W3O July; `tForbachex
Eice ndu trier in Forbach damaged by an lIE bomb falling on railroad
track at 100 meter distance frog plant, Dame to x'oofs, windows; the
supply of current was interrupted and the plant was out of operation
until 3 August, when partial operations xesumed. Total manpower loss
for Armed Forces production was 6I1P1 hours,
2- Production 1os because of air `zraids increased considerably.
w (Awed Forces) plants under the supervision of the Army repaxtad a
Joss of 1,031 3/4 manpower sours or the period 16 Jul - 15 August.
3, Coal mines were seriou Ly damaged. by air attacks, which resulted
in a lose of production of 4,700 tons for August,
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